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A comment on Microgrids Are Giving Power to the People. Parent comment

Re:Microgrids Are Giving Power to the People by herlitzj on Thursday August 10, 2023 @03:10PM (#37080421)
https://www.torus.co/torus-flywheel
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Re:Microgrids Are Giving Power to the People by reacharavindh on Thursday August 10, 2023 @03:37PM (#37080731)
That looks very cool. Mechanical energy storage. Any idea what the return efficiency of such a device is? And guesses about its cost?
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Re:Microgrids Are Giving Power to the People by herlitzj on Thursday August 10, 2023 @04:00PM (#37080996)
No idea. But interestingly enough, it looks like someone built a grid scale version in PA with funds from the 2008 Recovery Act. There's a final tech report here https://www.smartgrid.gov/project/hazle_spindle_20mws_flywhe... in the Related Docs
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Re:Microgrids Are Giving Power to the People by ketzo on Thursday August 10, 2023 @03:17PM (#37080508)
well, if nothing else, that thing looks futuristic as hell

would love to point out in my yard and say "oh, that? that's our mechanical energy storage device"

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Re:Microgrids Are Giving Power to the People by hpb42 on Friday August 11, 2023 @12:46PM (#37090783)
Cool! Thanks for the link.

A 10 kWh flywheel that can charge/discharge at 20 kW (lasts for 20~30 min at this power) costs ~11500 USD + installation and control system.

A Tesla Powerwall has 13.5 kWh capacity, delivers power at ~6 kW and costs ~11500 USD.

That doesn't seem a large difference to me.

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